Barend Hendrik Bekker's Timeline

The camps were formed by the British army to house the residents of the two Boer republics of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. They were established towards the end of 1900, after Britain had invaded the Boer republics. This database was designed to investigate mortality and morbidity in the camps during the war. Although it will include everyone listed in the registers during the war, it usually excludes returning prisoners-of-war and men who came back from commando at the end of the war, as well as the considerable movement of people which took place after 31 May 1902, when families were repatriated to their homes.

Although the Ladies Committee stated that Brandfort camp was opened in March 1901, it had certainly been formed by the end of January 1901, when it was reported that there were about two hundred people living there, mainly from Bultfontein and Hoopstad. At this stage many of the Boer families were scattered through the town or living in wagons, rather than in tents. Dr Last, from the town, cared for the inmates and there was, unusually, one trained nurse.1 Some of the people living in the town were able to support themselves and the British authorities were reluctant to supply them with rations. Nor did the British want to force them into the camps - ‘bear in mind that these camps are not meant to be prisons; you must act in all cases with tact’, the Chief Superintendent warned the Brandfort superintendent. By August 1901, when Dr Kendal Franks visited the camp, everyone had been moved into tents.